Dan Harmon is the reason I watched Community. His show, which I caught in fits and starts through its first season, didn’t grab at me at first. I left it alone until the A.V. Club hosted an epic Season Walkthrough in which Harmon talked about each and every episode they had made. It wasn’t the first time A.V. Club did a walkthrough and it certainly wasn’t the last; but something about the way Harmon talked about his own show and its various machinations grabbed me. His way of giving every character their own Joseph Campbell journey; his incredible ability to mix something really smart, something really crass, and something really heartfelt into an eye-popper of a few sentences.
But the thing that made Community such a great show is also the thing that almost completely derailed it: Harmon himself. He openly admits his faults, his violent bursts of anger and ability to say really hurtful things with little initial remorse. But they were fine at first – all powered by the same passion that made his show so special – until they weren’t fine anymore. Studio heads finally had enough of him. By the end of Community‘s third season, he was fired.
This is where Harmontown begins it’s journey. It’s not exactly a new thing for a fired creator to hit the road and pass through cities of adoring fans – Conan O’Brien had done it with Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop only a few years earlier – but that’s where the comparisons end. Every show is something different; there’s no set list; there’s no overall strategy. The only thing that’s consistent is that each Harmontown podcast involves the main players – Harmon himself, actor/M.C. Jeff B. Davis, and other guests – playing a live game of Dungeons and Dragons with the irreplaceable Dungeon Master himself, Spencer Crittenden. Each podcast feels like some kind of open therapy, like the room is an open wound of which may be picked on, soothed, or amateurishly stitched up.
But for as entertaining as this documentary is, it can’t seem to decide what to focus on. The result is a lot of interesting elements getting their time in the sun, but not nearly enough to give it the impact it desires. Seeing Dungeon Master Spencer simply volunteer himself at a local podcast and then find himself on a national tour, gaining fame for just how incredible a Dungeon Master he is – it’s a rather thrilling little story that gives Harmontown a nice punch of heart and gravitas. If nothing else, it’s a great highlight to see someone plucked from obscurity show such shout-worthy skill that even a guest celebrity like Jason Sudeikis stands there on stage, completely blown away.
Throughout the first half of Harmontown, Berkeley throws in interview snippets with some of the big time people Harmon had worked with coming up through the ranks – Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Sarah Silverman (who fired him from her own show) – all of which gives us a nice little glimpse into not just Harmon but what it’s like to actually work with him. I found it especially fascinating to hear what writer/director Rob Schrab – who was just recently tapped to direct The Lego Movie Sequel – had to say about working with his buddy Harmon, and how him staying sane while Harmon’s more difficult tendencies got in the way led to them having a break from each other.
There’s a lot to love in Harmontown – the candor, the random humor, the interviews with people you know and love. And while it’s not as well-organized as you would hope it to be, it does give you a pretty realistic look at what life with Harmon is like. It gives you a sense of what pushes him, as well as what keeps him from being as successful as he could and should be. He’s a puzzle that Hollywood has yet to really figure out. Thank goodness for the weird ones.
NOTE: Dan Harmon was rehired after Community‘s off-balance 4th season. It’s 5th, Harmon-led season debuted on NBC last year and it’s 6th season is currently streaming on Yahoo Screen.
